WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT: A newborn baby shocked doctors after they discovered a parasitic twin growing inside her in an extremely rare case after her stomach became distended
The female tot had been admitted to hospital at just 11 days old after her stomach became distended.
A 4D ultrasound found a mass measuring 8x6cm, while an abdominal examination found a lump with a “soft to firm consistency” and “irregular surface”, that didn’t move when she breathed.
A contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan of the stomach and pelvis again highlighted the mass, this time showing malformed skeletal parts resembling long bones, ribs, vertebrae, pelvic bones, and soft tissue.
Doctors could see it was fed by a large artery and they confirmed the finding as a case of fetus in fetu – an extremely rare anomaly that occurs when a malformed parasitic twin develops inside the body of its sibling.
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Surgeons performed a laparotomy – an incision into the abdominal cavity – and found the mass near the liver, according to NeedToKnow.
They removed the mass, which was enclosed in a sac that contained fat, malformed tissue, two limbs, and an umbilical cord. A microscopic examination found it had ‘mature embryonic tissue’ with skin and intestines also present.
Incredibly, prior to the shocking discovery, the baby girl had been eating and passing stools as normal, and had no other symptoms. An abdominal drain was removed from the tot after four days in hospital, and she was discharged after an “uneventful” recovery.
The shocking case was reported in a medical journal this month, with the child treated at Mansoura University paediatric unit in Egypt.
Less than Fewer 200 cases of fetus in fetu have been reported worldwide since medical records began. This rare congenital condition involves a non-viable parasitic twin becoming enclosed within the body of a developing twin, often in the retroperitoneum. It is thought to originate from an identical twin pregnancy where one twin fails to develop normally and is instead encased by the other.
Meanwhile, the UK’s oldest identical twin has died aged 105 – three years after her 102-year-old sister. Kathleen Whitehead died peacefully three years after her sister Dorothy Sivyer died in July 2022. The pair – who called themselves ‘The Twinnies’ – were born on August 28, 1920 and remained close, moving into their childhood home, which was built by their grandparents, during the Covid lockdown.
The siblings were Britain’s oldest identical twins and claimed their long-life was down to balancing wine and chocolate with exercise and healthy food as well as having a big group of female friends.
They had just turned 19 years old when World War Two was declared in 1939 and both sisters did their bit for their country.
Eldest by a few minutes Kath worked as a radar operator before working as a primary school teacher until her retirement.
Widowed Dotty, a radiographer who treated soldiers returning from the Normandy beaches, had three children, six grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. The pair celebrated turning 100 together in 2020 and revealed they never had sibling squabbles.